Original subtitles

Narrator: They're watching you --

More than 4,000 Satellites circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new, Mysterious phenomenon.

Some defy explanation.

I'm just puzzled. It just doesn't fit.

Whatever it is Can't be good news.

A river of light flows Across the indian subcontinent.

You don't expect to see

A fiery streak Snaking below you.

Nazi spies leave Secret signals

In war-torn britain.

And it's possible That these markers

Were used to guide In other spies

Or perhaps an invasion.

And a pink lake glows In the brazilian rainforest.

It looks like something Bad happened here.

Baffling phenomenon, Mysteries from space --

What on earth are they?

-- captions by vitac -- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Narrator: August 21, 2011.

Onboard the international Space station,

An astronaut captures An unusual image

Over southern asia.

Man: looking down from the iss,

You don't expect to see

A fiery streak Snaking below you.

It looks almost like A line of lava flow.

Narrator: but there are no Active volcanoes in the area.

Man: It doesn't look like a road.

It doesn't match a city.

And yet it goes For hundreds of miles.

Narrator: the line of light

Cuts right across The indian subcontinent.

Despite its remarkable color

And vast size,

It's possible the burning streak

Could have a simple explanation.

You can see cities And towns that are lit up.

Could this just Be a main road?

Narrator: It's certainly possible.

**

From space, the brightest road On the planet

Is the las vegas strip In nevada.

It radiates with the light Of more than 20 million bulbs

And 15,000 miles Of neon tubes.

But scale analysis of the image

Taken over india reveals

That the glowing streak Is far wider than any road.

This is a line Of lights 450 feet wide.

That would be a superhighway 40 lanes wide.

Narrator: The intense orange glow

Doesn't look anything like Conventional street lighting.

Man: the color is striking. It's --

It's a very vivid orange, uh,

Against the white lights Of the cities.

So, um, you know, It is perplexing.

What could be causing that?

Man: is there something About that color

That's important to this story?

What else goes With an orange light?

If it's not road, Uh, could be a fire.

**

Narrator: fire plays a prominent Role in some of india's vast

And spectacular Religious festival.

One of the most remarkable Is called dasara.

Dasara is a hindu festival.

And different regions In india celebrate it,

Uh, in their own unique way.

Narrator: dasara commemorates The victory of

The mother goddess durga

Over a shapeshifting demon Called mahishasura.

It's the culmination of 10 days Of religious festivities

And brings about new life To the earth.

On the 10th night Of the celebration,

It culminates In a spectacular fire

Torch display,

A huge processional pilgrimage

Of a motorway of fire torches.

It's carried by at least

10,000 people Within each celebration.

Narrator: but even 10,000 Torch-wielding festival goers

Wouldn't be enough to create Such a vast blaze across india

That was visible from space.

If this were a parade, We would need millions of people

To make a line this long And this bright.

So if it's not a superhighway Or a fiery parade,

What else could it be?

Narrator: astronaut leroy chiao

Has seen something Like this before.

Uh, what this looks like to me

Is that it's some kind of A border or a dividing line.

When we look closer and compare This line to a map,

Well, it maps perfectly To the border

Between india and pakistan.

Narrator: the division between These two countries

Only dates from 1947,

When they were Granted independence

From the british empire.

Ever since, this border Has been the site of dozens

Of skirmishes And dangerous standoffs

Between the rival militaries And terrorist groups.

This is a very heavily Defended and militarized border

Between two countries

That are technically Allies and friends

But really don't like Each other very much.

It stretches from the himalayas All the way to the arabian sea.

Man: the borderline forms A formidable barrier

To any unauthorized crossings.

One of the reasons The defense was put up is

Because india wants To control movement

Of insurgents from pakistan

To the indian side Of the border.

It's patrolled by thousands Of men on each side.

There's no question That the area

Is immensely tense.

Both sides are waiting For something to trigger

Some form of reaction From the other side.

There's always the possibility

Of an outbreak of gunfire Or worse.

Narrator: the indian government Has installed high walls,

Barbed wire, And antipersonnel mines

To defend the vulnerable border.

The fiery orange glow

Comes from powerful Sodium-vapor lamps,

Which illuminate almost The entire length of it.

It's floodlit so nobody Can get across,

Even at night.

Man: The orange glow is from over

150,000 high-power flood lights.

It's no wonder you can see it From space at night.

Narrator: in 1962, A u2 spy plane flying over

Cuba takes A disturbing photograph.

It looks like a star of david Carved into the ground.

Narrator: the image pushes The u.S. Military

To the brink of war.

Man: imagine When the photo interpreters

Came across this sight.

It shook the white house And the cia to the core.

This was very nearly the end Of the world as we know it.

Narrator: august 1962.

An american u2 spy plane Flying over communist cuba

Takes a deeply disturbing Photograph.

Man: Imagine you're taking pictures

Over a hostile country.

If you saw this, alarm bells Would be ringing immediately.

Narrator: the aerial image Starts a chain of events

That takes the united states To the brink of apocalypse.

The picture was taken Over la coloma, 100 miles

From the cuban capital, havana.

Man: it stands out -- You can look at this photo.

And you can see, They're carving this out of,

Uh, very dense vegetation.

Man: round the outside, there Are some clear trackways

And other structures That look quite big.

But the central feature Really looks like

A version of the star of david.

Narrator: for centuries, The star of

David has been a symbol Of judaism

And, more recently, The state of israel.

Cuba is more than 6,000 miles from israel.

But his part of the world Does have a little-known

Jewish connection.

Man: some jewish people Fled nazi europe.

And they wanted somewhere Where they could practice

Their religion in safety.

And, obviously, Cuba was ideal.

So there is quite a considerable

Jewish population on the island.

Narrator: in the 1950s, More than 15,000 jews lived

In cuba.

But historical records Reveal that a decade later,

At the time The photograph was taken,

Over 90 percent of them Had fled the country.

Although the jewish people felt They got somewhere safe,

This was not the case.

The rise of the communist Government under fidel castro

Put them under pressure.

And many of them left.

So it's very unlikely That these are marks

Put in by Any pro-jewish movement.

Narrator: archaeologists look Further back

Into the island's history

For possible answers To what the shape could be.

It bears a strong resemblance To a mystical symbol

Used by the shamans Of many north american tribes.

Man: shamans are The intermediaries

Between a spirit world On the one hand

And the earthly world On the other.

Certainly among Native american communities,

You find what are Called medicine wheels,

Which look remarkably Like the image.

Medicine wheels were used By these shamans

For healing purposes Or to predict the future.

Narrator: Cuba was once home

To a mysterious tribe Called the taino.

Their shamans conducted painful Drug-fueled rituals

To access the spirit world.

Man: shim is found throughout The native american world.

But particularly, the tainos Took it to a really fine art.

And they went out Of the earthly world,

Into the spirit world by going Into what was known as trances.

These trances would be Through dancing,

Often taking Hallucinogenic drugs

And would then pass Into this other world

Where they would Receive knowledge

Which they could bring back To the society.

Narrator: a large medicine wheel Could play a part

In such shamanic rituals.

But scale analysis reveals

The site is around 700 feet across.

Man: They clearly were capable

Of carving geometric Patterns on rocks.

But this one Is just far too big

And far too elaborate.

Narrator: To military image analysts,

The photograph presents Several telltale clues

Suggesting the activity On the ground

Could have catastrophic Consequences.

This is actually The first image

I've been given where,

Without any doubt, I can tell you what it is.

And it represents Sort of the --

The cold war in one picture.

Narrator: this seemingly Innocuous image

Starts a chain reaction

That would bring the u.S. To the brink of war.

Man: if you saw these sights On a photograph,

And you put them to anybody In the pentagon,

Alarm bells would be Ringing immediately.

Narrator: the pattern in The image is recognized as

A footprint For a soviet antiaircraft

Missile system Called an sa2.

Man: if you look at places Where the soviets help

Set up sa2 sites Around the world,

Cuba, vietnam, Later in other places,

They all have the same Looking footprint

When viewed from above.

Looks like a star of david Carved into the ground.

It is in unusual pattern, But not once you understand

How these sites are constructed.

Then it starts to make sense.

Narrator: analysts believe The site in the image

Was still under construction

At the time the photo was taken.

Imagery captured Three months later

By u.S. Spy planes

Shows a fully Operational missile base.

Man: It's laid out in a pattern

Which allows you To make the best use

Of your missiles And guidance system.

Man: right in the middle Was a radar center.

And then if you think About around there,

In sort of a circular pattern,

Were the missile sites.

In this case, there were Six missile sites

For the sa2 missiles.

And then, obviously, You need to get back and forth.

So they would build roads.

This image is what essentially

Started the cuban Missile crisis.

In the early '60s, during The kennedy administration,

The cuban missile crisis

Almost erupted Into the third world war.

Fidel castro asks The soviet union

For weapons and missiles

And -- And military hardware,

Which they gladfully Sent to cuba.

Man: Cuba's relationship with --

With america was about As tense as you could get.

Narrator: during the height Of the missile crisis,

U2 spy planes took countless Photographs over cuba.

These state-of-the-art aircraft

Could fly at altitudes up To 70,000 feet,

Over twice that Of a commercial jet.

Man: What the soviets didn't know

Was what our capabilities were.

They completely underestimated What we were capable

Of picking up.

Narrator: the presence of The sa2 antiaircraft missiles

Tips-off u.S. Intelligence That the soviets

Must be trying to protect Something important.

Further reconnaissance flights Over the surrounding area

Soon discover the soviet Nuclear missiles.

The u.S. Government Could not tolerate

Deadly weapons So close to home.

Right next door, in cuba, Right across the water,

Uh, the russians,

The soviets, Had a foothold there.

It was an amazingly Frightening prospect.

Man: these sites would trigger A 13-day crisis

That brought two of the world's Biggest superpowers

To the brink of nuclear war.

man: strategic air command b-52 bombers

are now flying a 24-hour mission.

Narrator: After intense negotiations,

The russians backed down And removed their nukes.

But short-range Tactical missiles

Remain to protect Cuban airspace.

Man: the russians built 24 of these sites.

And those 24 sites Were all designed

To shoot down aircraft

That were flying Over the island.

Narrator: today, modern aerial Imagery of the same site

Shows no trace of the weaponry That triggered the crisis.

The evidence of humanity's Brush with annihilation

Is gone but not forgotten.

The cubans gave up All their nuclear missiles.

And the soviets took them Back to the soviet union.

Man: the general public wasn't Aware that this was going on

Until the very end, When it became known.

But it was an extremely,

Extremely intense Period of time.

This was very nearly the end Of the world as we know it.

Narrator: a satellite passes High over

The amazon jungle In brazil and spots

A lake that glows With an impossible color.

This looks very disturbing.

It's a bright pink lake In the middle

Of the brazilian rainforest.

It looks like something Bad happened here.

Narrator: september 2003.

The quickbird ii Satellite orbits 280 miles

Over a remote part of brazil

And captures An extraordinary image.

Woman: that's a lake.

And that's pink.

They don't normally Come in that color.

Man: I'm wondering if There's something really,

Really wrong that's Turned this water pink.

Narrator: the mile-long lake is Located in deep rainforest

In the state of para, Central brazil.

You wanna get to the bottom Of what's going on here.

It makes sense to look At the surrounding area.

Narrator: a clue to the lake's Disturbing color

Could come from a secretive Nearby military base,

The campo de provas Brigadeiro velloso.

This is a location where The brazilian military tests

Its high-tech

And most-secretive Weapons systems.

The brazilian government

Is maintaining high security Of this installation

And what actually Goes on there.

For several years, Brazil had

An active Nuclear-weapons program.

And where was it based?

Right here.

Narrator: officially, Brazil's nuclear program

Was abandoned in 1990.

Since then, there have been No reports of contamination,

Radioactive or otherwise.

If the base is not responsible,

Could this strange color Be a geological phenomenon?

It is possible that this lake Could be colored due

To, uh, metal Suspended in water.

Man: there's a famous river In spain called the rio tinto.

If you look at pictures Of the rio tinto,

You'll see, uh, colors Of yellow and orange

And other colors like That mainly from the iron,

The oxides that are being Carried along in the water.

Narrator: geologists question

Whether naturally Occurring metals

Could be reacting with Something in the lake,

Creating the vivid color.

The minerals themselves Would not be pink.

But they would turn pink When they're exposed to the air.

And typically, it's minerals

Such as manganese That would turn pink.

Narrator: But it would be highly unusual

For manganese to produce a color

As vivid as that scene In the image.

We've gotta look to some Other kind of explanation.

Narrator: one possible cause Of contamination in the water

Is industrial activity.

In 2015, a dam burst At brazil's germano mine,

Releasing 13 billion gallons

Of toxic waste Into a nearby river.

It turned the water A putrid pink

And destroyed villages Along its banks.

Perhaps a similar accident Is to blame here.

Something of this scale

Would have to be A pretty major incident.

There is a lot of mining In the brazilian rainforest.

There's large-scale Industrial mining of iron ore.

Also in the amazon, there's A lot of rogue mining going on.

Miners are mining for gold On a fairly large scale.

Narrator: intense International pressure means

That the brazilian government Keeps a close watch

On industrial activity In the amazon.

It's unlikely That an accident

Could be kept quiet for long.

Man: if a lake this large

Was that polluted by A mining process,

You would hope that somebody Would have noticed

And done something about

Before this became Public knowledge.

Narrator: the search for answers Leads investigators

Halfway around the world.

Could another lake, Over 10,000 miles away,

Over a clue to What's happening here?

The vivid pink hue Of australia's lake hillier

Is caused by a rare type Of single-celled microalgae

Called dunaliella salina.

Man: dunaliella salina uses Different kinds of pigments

To absorb light.

Rather than green chlorophyll, It uses a pink-colored pigment.

Narrator: the strange, Bubblegum-colored algae

Only thrive In very particular conditions,

In water that's at least 5 times As salty as the ocean.

Man: a lake in The amazon rainforest

Being highly saline

Would not be What I would expect.

A rainforest is place with, uh,

High, uh, Levels of precipitation.

And the only way to get a saline

Lake is to have A lot of evaporation.

Salty water is essentially Toxic to vegetation.

It's really, really unlikely

That you're going To have such nice,

Green land next to it.

So that kind of rules That one out.

Narrator: No known natural phenomenon

Can explain the pink water Visible in the image.

The nearby military base Is the only factor

That distinguishes This patch of jungle

From the thousands of miles

Of surrounding rainforest.

Could the military installation

Have some sort of connection

Between the weapons That are being tested

And the color of the water?

Narrator: This base still performs

Advanced weapons testing.

Some experts have proposed

That a byproduct of munitions

Handling might be responsible.

There is something Called pink water,

Which is formed after The washing of munitions.

So you've got artillery shells

That you wanna fill With tnt, right?

You're filling them away.

You spill a bit.

You definitely need To clean that up.

And when you wash it away,

It just gets absorbed Into the water.

Narrator: as the tnt And the waste water

Collects in the lake, It undergoes a chemical reaction

Powered by the sun.

Woman: It just looks clear like water.

But when that water Is exposed to sunlight,

There is a photolytic reaction,

Which causes that water To turn pink.

Narrator: so the colored lake Could be caused

By large amounts of tnt Dissolved in the water

Over decades Of washing munitions.

Man: the only way to get A final answer

On why this lake is pink Would be to actually go

And test the water And test the soil around it.

But because of the secrecy And because of the location,

This may remain a mystery.

Narrator: british Military intelligence releases

A cache of declassified

Secret world war ii documents.

One aerial image from 1945 shows Bizarre shapes on the ground.

Man: this is wartime.

And the marks could only be Seen from the air.

So which side were They meant to be seen by?

Man: there were nazi Spies in britain.

And it's possible That these markers

Were used to guide In other spies

Or perhaps an invasion.

Narrator: february 2010.

The british government Declassifies

A cache of secret World war ii documents

And releases them From the military archives.

One aerial photograph Shows bizarre shapes

In the english countryside.

What the hell is it?

Man: these circles are clearly Meant to be seen from above.

And the question's by whom.

Narrator: the image was taken Near the tatton estate,

10 miles southwest Of manchester, england.

Available Records make no mention

Of who took the photo or why.

Man: It was very, very common

During the second world war For aircraft to be

Sent up to experiment With cameras

To train the airmen How to do it,

Make sure everything Was operating.

Narrator: The mystery has stood unsolved

For more than 70 years.

Investigators consider whether Localized magnetic fields

In the ground itself could have Caused the strange shapes.

Under the ground, You might get rocks,

Which will in -- Inhibit crop growth.

Man: you'd be surprised The kind of complexity

And shapes that you can get In the surface of the earth

From magnetic fields From various rocks.

Narrator: but the soil in this Part of england is very chalky.

Analysis of geological records Also reveals no evidence

Of any magnetic metals

Such as iron deposits That might cause the shapes.

If the markings Are not natural.

Then what are they?

Man: um, my first reaction To looking at this one is --

Is it basically A crop circle?

Man: a crop circle is a large Area of flattened crop.

Uh, it's usually wheat, Often barley,

Sometimes oilseed rape.

Man: it's decorative.

You see this fairly often, Frankly, in crop circles,

Uh, that are cut Into agricultural

Fields particularly Here in the u.S.

You fly over the middle Part of this country.

And you'd be amazed At sort of the shapes

And designs that you see.

Narrator: crop circles were First reported

In the late 1970s.

If these shapes are Crop circles photographed

During the second world war,

They would be The first on record.

But close analysis of the image

Indicates the field the symbols

Are in does not contain Crops of any kind.

A different technique Must've been

Used to create the shapes.

They probably, uh, Pulled -- cut the turf.

Or it was worn out

Or some means Of disturbing the soil.

Narrator: a new theory suggests The strange symbols

Might have been made By the british military

As targets for parachutists.

Man: parachutists Had to practice somewhere.

And one of the things They would have needed

Is a target to aim at.

So it's just as likely that, uh,

The british military Put down these targets

For their own parachutes -- Parachutists --

To aim at,

As a training, uh, tool.

Narrator: the nearest parachute Base was just 4 miles away.

But a detail In the image pokes

A hole in the parachute theory.

Close to the symbols Is a small woodland.

Trees would pose a threat

To any parachutist Landing nearby.

A more alarming possibility Is that these symbols

Are some kind Of coded signal

To aid invading nazi forces.

Man: it was known during The second world war

That there were nazi Spies in britain.

And it's possible That these markers

Were used to guide In other spies

Or perhaps an invasion.

It was a difficult process Navigating,

Uh, for pilots at that time.

So the idea that there Might be land-based markers,

Well, of course they were Using land-based markers.

Narrator: could these markings Be a secret signal

For invading German aircraft?

Man: there's fear particularly Following the fall of france

And dunkirk that --

That the nazis were getting Us ready for invasion.

People were getting A little bit paranoid

About what might be happening.

The british air force

Was constantly patrolling The countryside,

Looking for any signs That german sympathizers

Had let directing german bombers

Towards military targets.

Narrator: declassified papers Reveal that during the war,

The british secret service Feared britain

Could be infiltrated By nazi sympathizers

Known as the fifth column.

Man: the fifth columnist is Essentially a spy

Operating in one country

But acting on the part Of the opponents

In a war, the enemy.

Narrator: the nightmare scenario Was an army

Of covert nazis Working in secret

To pave the way For german domination.

Man: there was a real terror

There was A fifth column in britain

Ahead of a nazi invasion.

Man: you have to put yourself In the mind-set

Of the british people.

They've seen this massive German war machine march

Through to the french coast.

They're right Across the water.

You've gotta be worried About an invasion.

Narrator: the symbols lie on A direct flight path

From germany to one of The luftwaffe's

Prime bombing targets, The port city of liverpool.

Liverpool was a critical port For the uk.

The atlantic supply convoys From canada and the u.S.

Were the only thing Keeping britain from starvation.

The luftwaffe inflicted Devastating damage on the city,

Trying to sever this lifeline.

It -- it's, uh, fits into The espionage thriller

Concept that german agents

Were out there In the fields of england,

Carving patterns And shapes in the fields

To help guide german pilots For -- for bombing raids.

Nothing was ever proven. Mi5 looked at this.

And they could find no evidence That this was the case.

If these marks Are not crop circles,

And they're not actually Caused by enemy activity,

Then what are they?

Man: in 1945, the british Secret service

Tried to figure this one out.

And it was a puzzle then.

Seventy years later, It's still a puzzle.

We have no idea.

Narrator: Today, satellite imagery

Of this location Reveals that the path

And small woodland Are still there.

But the strange Symbols are gone.

If there is an answer To this mystery here,

It is long buried.

Giant mysterious symbols emerge

From the sands of the desert In a former soviet territory.

These features are Absolutely enormous,

Bigger than the footprint Of any of the pyramids.

The soviets took On some of the most ambitious

Building projects In human history.

So maybe that's what We're looking at here.

Narrator: 2007.

An amateur archaeologist Searches

Through online satellite imagery

Looking for ancient sites.

He spots something strange,

A three-armed shape In the middle

Of a barren desert landscape.

Man: searching Online and finding this,

What a fantastic find.

Narrator: the satellite image Was captured over

The deserts of kazakh steppe In northern kazakhstan.

This is not something You see in nature.

Man: why would Anybody do that?

What were they Trying to say?

Narrator: the massive geoglyphs

In the kazakh desert are So remarkable

They attract the interest Of nasa scientists.

They use satellite imagery Of the area to conduct

A remote investigation.

Man: nasa, of course, Is very excited by this,

To see their equipment Being used not just

For discovery in space But also here on earth.

Narrator: satellite photographs

Reveal that The three-armed shape

Is not the only large symbol In the area.

Hundreds of weird Geoglyphs are spotted

Strewn across The desert landscape,

Some featuring crosses, Dots, rings and lines.

They're beautiful. They're massive.

And they show off The ability of mankind

To do things that are Impactful from distances

As far away as space.

Narrator: scale analysis reveals The size of the structures.

Judging by the width Of this road,

This mound is approximately 7 meters in width,

Which is pretty large.

These features are Absolutely enormous,

Bigger than the footprint Of any of the pyramids.

So who built them? And what are they for?

Narrator: it's clear That these symbols

Are a massive feat Of human engineering.

Their location on The kazakh steppe leads

Some to suspect That the former soviet union

Had a hand in creating them.

The soviets took On some of the most ambitious

Engineering projects In human history.

Maybe that's what We're looking at here.

From the time of stalin onwards, Uh, the soviet union was very,

Very keen on improving Agriculture and terraforming,

Shaping the land, To suit agriculture.

Some of these projects Were so large

That they were designed To turn areas

That were previously deserts Actually into farmable land.

Man: patriots of the soviet Republic set the pace

In gathering the hay For the glorious red cavalry.

Soviet attempts to turn The largely deserts

Of kazakhstan Into farmable areas

Meant that they virtually drain The aral sea completely.

Narrator: records of soviet Agricultural experiments are now

Supposed to be accessible To the public.

But available records make No mention of work in this area.

If the soviets didn't Construct the earthworks,

Could they come From further back

In the bloody history Of the kazakh steppe?

With these satellite images, Of course, there's limitation.

They tell us there's Something there.

So it prompts us To go find these things

On the ground To study them,

Uh, with traditional Archaeological methods.

Narrator: archaeologists Investigate at ground level

And discover the patterns

Are made up Of mounds of earth.

The evidence seems To indicate the geoglyphs

Are far older than anyone Previously imagined.

So one culture That could've created

These features was The mahanza culture,

Which was around 7,500 bc To 5,500 bc.

Narrator: the mysterious Stone-age mahanza culture dates

From a time before Written history began.

Almost nothing is Known about them.

We know that the mahanza was Basically a nomadic population.

Narrator: some suspect that The earthworks

May have acted As a celestial calendar.

Man: one of the things That would've been a concern

To past people in --

And that drove them To very carefully observe

Celestial phenomena, The solstices,

The behavior of some planets

And stars and the moon,

Of course, was, uh, Their understanding

Of the agricultural year

And being able to plan ahead For the year to come.

Narrator: in 2015, An investigation of the site

Using cutting-edge Technology discovers

That it might not be Stone age at all.

Archaeologists Use a technique

Called optically Stimulated luminescence,

Or osl, and date one earthwork Back to just 800 bc,

Far more recent Than first thought.

Osl dating is A kind of methodology

Where sand would Have been exposed

At one point to the sun.

So it tells us, When's the last time

That sand saw light,

Giving us the indication

When humans were Building this feature.

Narrator: 800 bc is close to The dawn of the iron age,

A time when Monumental structures

Start to appear elsewhere On the russian steppe.

Man: This certainly does suggest

It's more likely to be, Uh, a kinda ceremonial structure

Because it's A very odd shape.

Narrator: the scale of These vast earthworks

Is what kept them undiscovered For thousands of years.

They are only Visible from above.

You created them And who they were created

For remains a mystery.

At the climax of the cold war,

A u.S. Spy satellite captures A disturbing image,

Which triggers A cia investigation.

Man: you have to imagine what The cia must have been thinking.

Everything Is a potential threat.

Narrator: hidden in a range Of coastal hills

Are what appear to be Nuclear missile silos.

Man: have we locked Onto a launch site?

Narrator: 1985.

The u.S. And russia are still In the grips of the cold war.

But now a new power Is rising in the east.

China is stepping up Its nuclear weapons program.

That's a concern from A national security perspective,

Not just for one nation But for the entire globe.

Narrator: the cia's kh-22 Spy satellite

Is tasked To fly over china.

Looking down on The coastal highlands

Of fujian province,

It spots something suspicious,

A series of unusually Round structures

Set into the ground,

Their circular openings

Pointing up into space.

Right at the top of The apparatus

Of national security issues.

So you look at An image like this.

And you immediately Think, "Okay.

Is there a military purpose To this site?"

To a military analyst, You see these big cones

That are poking up In the middle.

That just screams missile.

Narrator: analysts fear The circular shapes

Could be missile silos

For launching china's new, Ultimate weapon.

At this time, china had recently Completed long-range tests

Of their new Nuclear-ballistic missile,

Code named dongfeng,

The eastern wind,

Or known simply as the df-5.

China's always had A massive military

As far as manpower's concerned.

But by this point, They were also

Catching up technologically.

The united states Was especially worried

About long-range missiles

And nuclear warheads.

Narrator: intelligence reports On these new missiles

Indicate they have Alarming capabilities.

Df-5 is china's First icbm,

Intercontinental Ballistic missile.

It could carry one To three nuclear warheads.

And it has a range Of 7,500 to 9,300 miles.

Look on a map.

That hits the mainland Of the usa.

So we're busy trying To understand

Where they're putting These launch sites.

Narrator: the entire U.S. Western seaboard

Would be want missile range.

Everyone's worried. What is china doing here?

Man: the df-5 affects The stability of the pacific

Because the chinese now Have the technology

To fire nuclear missiles

Against all of the american Allies in the pacific

As well as the american West coast.

Narrator: after The initial sighting,

The cia conducts intense

Satellite surveillance Of the area.

The picture it builds up Creates a growing fear

That china has built

A vast network Of missile silos

Along the eastern Coastline of fujian.

I would argue that the cia,

When it comes to imagery, Doesn't often get it wrong.

Man: the cia takes this evidence To the president.

And reagan says, "Find out more About these structures

That we found On the satellites,"

'cause from overhead,

You can't really Tell what they are.

Man: So what do we do about this?

We've locked onto what may Be a missile launch site.

Immediately, you've gotta say,

"We need human Intelligence on this."

Narrator: cia espionage Operations against china

From the 1980s Are still highly classified.

But according to Unconfirmed reports,

This image prompted the agency

To launch a field investigation.

Washington wants to know What's going on here.

So they send a spy, A guy named howard h. Beck,

On a state-sponsored Tour of the mountains

To see what's going on here.

Narrator: The only way for the cia

To get their man In is posing as a tourist.

Man: this is the height Of the cold war.

It's nearly impossible To go to china on your own.

And so he's very closely watched By the chinese government

And government officials. And he's tailed.

And he's told what he can And can not photograph.

Narrator: tourism in china

Is tightly Controlled at this time.

Visitor permits are only issued

After careful background checks.

And most areas are Forbidden to outsiders.

Tourists follow A strict schedule,

Taken on guided tours Of factories,

Schools and communes.

When cia agent beck

Finally gets to The assumed missile site,

He's in for a complete surprise.

Man: so he travels To the fujian provence.

He gets to these structures.

And he starts takin' pictures.

And he doesn't know

Why he's allowed To take so many pictures.

But it turns out that They're just housing complexes.

They're massive round And square structures.

They look like Castles a bit,

Surrounded by agricultural land.

Narrator: The unusual round structures

Are a remarkable kind of chinese

Building traditional To the area,

Known as a tulou.

The tulou structures are -- Are defensive.

They're like castles In europe.

The aim is to, um, protect The inhabitants, the families,

Which could be up To 800 people inside them.

Um, they have their Own source of water.

They could preserve Food in there.

They could keep livestock, Grow vegetables and so on

And protect themselves either From local marauding tribes

Or marauding bandits.

It's just a community living

In a traditional Housing structure.

Narrator: these large, Round housing blocks

Actually date back To the time of shakespeare

And are unique to the area.

The walls are made of earth

Mixed with bamboo and rice.

Man: these, uh, tulou structures Are in the records

Of the ming dynasty In the 1500s.

So the cia probably didn't need To go and, uh, investigate them

Because they definitely Predate nuclear weapons.

They probably could've just Gone to a decent library.

Last time I checked, Rice and mud do not pose

A national security threat To the united states of america.

To be fair to the cia,

At the time they were Looking at them,

China was not such A hot tourist destination

That it is now.

So they were somewhat More mysterious.